BY A. B. WALKOM. 



3& 



The cofrelation of these beds is necessariU^ based on the fossil 

 plants, since they are the only remains which are of widespread 

 distribution. In the past, fossil plants have formed a ver}- 

 uncertain means for the accurate correlation of strata. This has 

 been due, particularly in the case of Australia, to imperfect 

 study of the material available. This statement is not made to 

 detract from the value of the work done by the earlier Australian 

 geologists; we owe much to their efforts, for they did an immense 

 amount of work under conditions much less favourable than 

 those under which we work at the present time. The vastly 

 improved conditions existing at the present day must always be 

 borne in mind, when the work of the older geologists is under 

 consideration; this point cannot be too strongly emphasised, for 

 there is very often a tendency to forget or overlook it. 



The author has just completed an examination of the fossil 

 floraof the Queensland Lower Mesozoic strata,* and the present 

 paper is concerned chiefly with a discussion of the results of 

 that examination. 



Briefly stated, the object of this contribution to Australian 

 Geology is to attempt to place the correlation of the Lower 

 Mesozoic rocks of Australia on a sound basis. The paper 

 aims at : 



(a) Dealing in a fairly comprehensive manner with the general 

 characters and distribution of the Lower Mesozoic rocks of 

 Queensland. 



(6) A critical discussion of the relations of the flora of the^se 

 rocks. 



(c) A comparison and correlation of the Lower Mesozoic I'ocks 

 of Queensland with other Lower Mesozoic rocks of Australia, 

 paying particular attention to the relations of the fossil floras of 

 the various occurrences to one another. 



(d) The determination of the position of the Australian Lower 

 Mesozoic rocks in the Geological Record. And 



(e) A discussion of the palaeogeography of the Australasian 

 region during Lower Mesozoic time. 



"' Queensland Geol. .Suiv., Publications No.s.252, 2.)7, '2,yj. 



